The Flying Scroll and The Filthy Basket – part 2
Zechariah 5:1-11
October 30, 2016
It seems we find ourselves in another one of those scheduling dilemmas
Where the normal routine of our study is chopped up by other activities.
We missed last Sunday night and we’re going to miss next Sunday night,
But hopefully we can gather back together here tonight
And find again the point that is being made through these night visions of Zechariah.
We actually started looking at these two visions last Sunday night,
And again I want to remind you that these visions are so important
To your understanding of what God intends for His church to be today.
Now for a quick recap.
• Zechariah is a prophet of God to minister encouragement to this group of refugees who have now left Persia and have returned to Jerusalem in order to rebuild the temple.
• That project has not come without it’s difficulties, but despite the hardships, God is succeeding in His purpose.
• In order to encourage the people God has given to Zechariah in one night 8 different night visions.
1) The Vision of the Angelic Patrol
Which was a vision meant to remind the people that God is extremely jealous for them.
They may not be treated all that well in the world, but that does not mean that God has somehow forgotten them.
2) The Vision of the 4 Horns and the 4 Craftsman
Which was a vision reminding these refugees that not only was God angry at those nations which oppressed them, but also that God was going to judge those nations that oppressed them.
3) The Vision of the Surveyor
This vision reminded the refugees that not only was Jerusalem the property and possession of God, but also that God would be a wall of defense around His people.
4) The Vision of Joshua’s Atonement
Here we saw Joshua standing before the Lord for the purpose of atoning the people and yet Satan was seeking to accuse him and wreck that work. However, despite Joshua’s obvious sin, the Lord chose to justify Him and make Him acceptable.
It was a reminder that God had chosen Israel and therefore God would redeem them.
5) The vision of the Lampstand and the Olive Tree
This vision was given to remind Zechariah and Zerubbabel that God Himself was at work to rebuild the temple and again make Israel a light in the darkness and that God was at work doing this through His chosen vessels, namely Joshua and Zerubbabel.
And then we came to these next two visions
Which we began looking at the last time we met together on Sunday night.
The vision of The Flying Scroll and The Vision of The Filthy Basket
And each of these visions really serve as sort of an extension
Of that vision which was given regarding the lampstand.
While we PRIMARILY LEARNED from that vision that
God is at work by His Spirit through His people
To accomplish His purposes
We also must recognize that
THE PURPOSE WAS to make Israel a light in the midst of the darkness.
Certainly that was the point of the lampstand.
This has always been the purpose for God’s people.
Now, as we said then, Israel often failed at that purpose.
Jesus said:
Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
Jesus was there exposing Israel for claiming to be light
And yet failing to shine that light.
The reason that we noted that they were unable to do this
Was because they lacked righteousness.
This was the same point that Paul would make in his epistle to the Romans.
Romans 2:17-24 “But if you bear the name “Jew” and rely upon the Law and boast in God, and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? For “THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU,” just as it is written.”
Paul was emphatic to the Jews that they were failing miserably
In their efforts to be a light in the darkness
Because they weren’t any different than the world.
In fact, instead of glorifying God through their obedience
They actually blasphemed God through their disobedience.
At some point the church has forgotten this very basic reality.
Namely that God has called us to be light in the darkness.
Instead the church has determined to be like the darkness.
• You should know that light is offensive.
• You should know that light exposes.
• You should know that light is uncomfortable to the darkness.
This is clearly stated in Scripture.
John 3:19-21 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
We were never called to blend with the darkness,
But rather to expose it.
Ephesians 5:11 “Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;”
The shame of God’s people and the shame of the church today
Is that instead of shining into the darkness,
We are more prone to put a basket over our light
To make sure we don’t offend the darkness.
It is extremely backward and perverted.
Last time we met we talked about why our light often times fails to shine.
And the reason is because of wickedness.
• If we look like the darkness…
• If we talk like the darkness…
• If we act like the darkness…
• Then how can we claim to be a light in the darkness?
The church cannot concern itself with the approval of the sinner,
But only with the approval of God.
And that is really the point of these two visions.
Now we already started working through the first vision, but let’s hit it again quickly so as to make sure we remember what we learned.
#1 THE VISION OF THE FLYING SCROLL
Zechariah 5:1-4
• Here you will remember that we saw a flying scroll, which spoke to the swiftness of its travel.
• We also noted that this scroll was the same dimensions as the Holy of Holies which reminds us that this word is sanctified and inseparably linked to the presence of God.
• We also found that this scroll was filled with a “curse”.
This is a message of judgment.
Not so different than the scroll which Ezekiel ate or which John ate in Rev. 10
Or which Jesus is opening in the tribulation.
This scroll is covered with judgments.
And we found that this scroll was going after two specific people.
(3) “Then he said to me, “This is the curse that is going forth over the face of the whole land; surely everyone who steals will be purged away according to the writing on one side, and everyone who swears will be purged away according to the writing on the other side.”
We are dealing with “the one who steals” and with “the one who swears”
And we discussed each of these last time.
But the one who steals is one who is basically steeped in immorality. They commit sins against their neighbor.
These are those who claim to be God’s people
And yet they live lives just like the unredeemed of the world.
In short, there is no light shining there.
The second problem was those “who swear”. Verse 4 indicates it is those who “swear falsely by My name.”
These are those who have entered into a covenant agreement with the Lord whereby they took an oath that they would serve Him and yet they have not upheld their end of the agreement.
Their profession to obey God was a lie.
And what is the problem here?
What is the problem with someone who says they are a Christian, but then lives like the world?
THE PROBLEM IS THAT THEY BLASPHEME GOD!
And as we said last time, I can’t stress enough how wrong this is,
And yet how overlooked it has become.
The church has become far more concerned about the comfort of the sinner than they have about the glory of God.
We’ll let people sin all day long without confrontation,
Regardless of what their testimony does to God’s reputation,
If only we can maintain a good friendship with them.
• We seem to think it wrong any time a sinner gets offended
• We seem to think it wrong any time a sinner gets confronted
• We seem to think it wrong any time a sinner get rebuked
But what about when God gets offended?
I told you this morning, but tomorrow marks
The 499th anniversary of the start of the reformation.
October 31, 517 was the day Martin Luther nailed that 95 thesis
On the door of the castle church in Wittenburg, Germany.
Certainly we aren’t going through a history of the reformation here,
But out of the reformation came 5 statements of faith and 1 motto.
The 5 statements were:
• Sola Scriptura – Scripture Alone
• Sola Fide – Faith Alone
• Sola Gratia – Grace Alone
• Solus Christus – Christ Alone
• Soli Deo Gloria – The Glory of God Alone
They fought and died for the belief that the true gospel comes only from Scripture and not from man’s logic or church tradition
And that this gospel as contained in Scripture clearly teaches that
Man is only justified by faith alone as a gift of God’s grace alone
Through the sacrifice of Christ alone.
But as an even more important cry than all of these was this final sola.
The Reformers understood that
• The reason that God saved sinners by grace apart from any work of the
sinner,
• The reason that God required only faith apart from any religious action,
• The reason that God used Christ to pay the debt of sinners apart from
any other payment
WAS FOR 1 REASON ALONE.
And that reason was so that God alone would receive the glory.
More important to them than any other thing
Was that God alone be glorified.
I’m not sure we can say that this is the passion of the church any more.
The motto that came out of the reformation was POST TENEBRAS LUX
“After Darkness Light”
In order to glorify God the reformers decided to shine the light of the gospel into the darkness of the world all for the glory of God.
There was no blending, there was no tolerating,
There was no unifying with that which was false.
They were more concerned about the glory of God
Than the comfort of sinners.
I’M NOT SURE THE CHURCH CAN SAY THAT TODAY.
Well you can see by this first vision
That shining light into darkness was certainly important to God
Even if it wasn’t important to His people.
He is about to take His word and “purge” from the among His people
All the blasphemers who live like the world while claiming to be believers.
(4) “I will make it go forth,” declares the LORD of hosts, “and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by My name; and it will spend the night within that house and consume it with its timber and stones.”
God will take His all penetrating word and with the accuracy of a double edged sword will exterminate the blasphemous from among His people.
WHY?
So that their light will once again shine into the darkness.
I just can’t stress this enough church.
• It is ok that you are different from the world
• It is ok that you hold views that the world says are wrong.
• It is ok to be scorned and rejected and talked about for standing for truth.
Jesus said:
Luke 6:22-23, 26 “Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. “Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets…”Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way.”
It is clear where God stands.
He is about to purify His people.
The Vision of the Flying Scroll
#2 THE VISION OF THE FILTHY BASKET
Zechariah 5:5-11
It seems really peculiar and strange, but I promise you it isn’t that hard to grasp.
We see that there is something that “is going forth”
That is to say that there is something
That is spreading throughout the land.
What is it?
(6) “I said, “What is it?” And he said, “This is the ephah going forth.” Again he said, “This is their appearance in all the land.”
So in all the land we have this “ephah going forth.”
An “ephah” was a basket and it held about a bushel.
It was a symbol of commerce or treasure or valuables.
Think of in one sense like a purse.
• A woman’s purse is where she keeps the things that are valuable to her. Her money, or jewelry, or things she needs handy.
This ephah was just a symbolic picture of the things
That mattered to the culture in Israel.
Well, in verse 7 we get to see what is in the ephah.
(7) “(and behold, a lead cover was lifted up); and this is a woman sitting inside the ephah.”
And so here we find that this society likes this “woman”.
Now at this point I suppose we could just go crazy trying to figure out what it all means.
• Does it mean this culture loves woman? (sexual immorality)
• Does it mean this culture loves feminism?
• Does it mean this culture focuses on motherhood?
To make sure you do understand the clear explanation is given.
(8) “Then he said, “This is Wickedness!” And he threw her down into the middle of the ephah and cast the lead weight on its opening.”
We still don’t specifically know what the woman represented except that
Whatever she represented heaven says it is what?
“Wickedness!”
If you really want to push the envelope here I’d probably be most inclined to link this to the sin that would soon be exposed among the refugees.
• If you read Ezra 9-10 you will find out that one of the sins of the refugees was that they began to marry foreign wives.
• This was strictly forbidden in Israel because these pagan women would pull your heart away from devotion to the Lord to serve their gods (just look at Solomon)
Ezra 9:1-4 “Now when these things had been completed, the princes approached me, saying, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, according to their abominations, those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians and the Amorites. “For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has intermingled with the peoples of the lands; indeed, the hands of the princes and the rulers have been foremost in this unfaithfulness.” When I heard about this matter, I tore my garment and my robe, and pulled some of the hair from my head and my beard, and sat down appalled. Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel on account of the unfaithfulness of the exiles gathered to me, and I sat appalled until the evening offering.”
• Ezra was obviously bothered by the wickedness that was spreading throughout the land.
• Ezra actually commanded them to put those wives away and they did.
During the days of Nehemiah the problem surfaced again.
Nehemiah 13:23-27 “In those days I also saw that the Jews had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab. As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them was able to speak the language of Judah, but the language of his own people. So I contended with them and cursed them and struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. “Did not Solomon king of Israel sin regarding these things? Yet among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless the foreign women caused even him to sin. “Do we then hear about you that you have committed all this great evil by acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?”
I think I’ll go with Nehemiah’s response instead.
Ezra pulled out his own hair, Nehemiah pulled out their hair.
But all because of their propensity to marry women who were forbidden.
It’s possible that this was the root issue here,
But we don’t even really know that.
All we know is that whatever it was it was “Wickedness!”
And it was going forth throughout the whole land.
THAT MEANS THAT
Instead of being people who were lights in the midst of darkness
They were a people who were blending with the darkness.
Righteousness wasn’t going for from God’s people, wickedness was.
And this angel sought to put an end to it.
(8) “And he threw her down into the middle of the ephah and cast the lead weight on its opening.”
So we are clear what’s going on.
Wickedness is spreading and this angel wants to put a stop to it.
But then look what happens.
(9-11) “Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and there two women were coming out with the wind in their wings; and they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heavens. I said to the angel who was speaking with me, “Where are they taking the ephah?” Then he said to me, “To build a temple for her in the land of Shinar; and when it is prepared, she will be set there on her own pedestal.”
The woman in the ephah she was specifically called what? “Wickedness”.
So we know what the woman represents here in this vision.
• Well now we have two more “women” coming with the “wind in their wings”, indicating that they are moving fast.
And Zechariah goes on to say that “they had the wings of a stork”
I’m not sure the symbolism here.
Most commentators say something like “the stork was an unclean bird”
And so the stork is obviously playing to the wickedness.
I guess that works, but the eagle was also unclean
And it is referred to favorably many times in Scripture.
So honestly I’m not sure about the stork wings.
However understanding that isn’t essential
For WE SEE WHAT THESE TWO WOMEN DO.
“the lifted up the ephah between earth and the heavens;”
They rescued this woman.
They rescued this wickedness in a basket.
The angel sought to incarcerate her and stop her,
They rushed in and delivered her.
And that’s not all.
(10-11) “I said to the angel who was speaking with me, “Where are they taking the ephah?” Then he said to me, “To build a temple for her in the land of Shinar; and when it is prepared, she will be set there on her own pedestal.”
So not only did they rescue her but they also chose to honor her.
• They took her to “the land of Shinar” that was Babylon.
• And the will “build a temple for her” so that they can worship her.
• And she will be “set there on her own pedestal.”
This isn’t hard to understand.
Think now about the two visions.
• God wants His people to be a light in the midst of darkness.
• In order to do that He is sending His word to purge out His people all those who commit wickedness and who swear falsely.
He is purifying His people.
In a sense that is what the angel was doing to sense he took that wicked woman and sought to incarcerate her in that basket with a lead weight.
• However the world rescued her and took her to another land where they could worship and adore her.
WHAT ARE WE TO MAKE OF THIS?
THE SIN THAT IS ERADICATED FROM THE CHURCH
IS EXALTED IN THE WORLD.
• Do you see that point?
• Do you see that what God hates and seeks to remove the world loves and
seeks to exalt?
The sin that is eradicated from the church is exalted in the world.
Do you know who this woman really is?
You say, “well she’s wickedness.”
That’s true, but she’s wickedness with a temple,
She’s wickedness on a pedestal, she’s wickedness with a following.
Do you know what she really is?
SHE IS FALSE RELIGION
She is religion which gains its direction from the world.
As opposed to religion that gains its direction from God.
LISTEN YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THIS.
God and the world are NOT on the same page.
• They do not love the same things
• They do not honor the same things
• They do not seek the same things
• They do not produce the same things
Just because it seems right to the world
Does not mean it is right before God
God and the world are opposites at every point.
1 John 2:15-16 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”
James 4:4 “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
God and the world are total opposites.
You cannot be like God and like the world at the same time.
You are either darkness or you are light.
The self-deception of the ages is
When people get involved in religion
And think they are the children of God
But in reality they are only people who love the world.
1 John 1:5-6 “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;”
Matthew 6:22-23 “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”
Do you see the self-deception that is prevalent?
We think we can be called the children of God because we are religious,
But in reality we just love what the world loves.
Is it any wonder then that our light does not shine in the darkness?
God was rebuilding this temple.
That is true; He was doing it by the power of His Spirit.
But it was going to take a lot more than a temple
To make His people a light that shines in the darkness.
They were going to have to actually be different.
They had to quit loving what the world loved.
And in order to accomplish that God was sending His word
To penetrate every home and purge out of His people
Those who say they love God but actually love sin.
I JUST DON’T KNOW HOW TO STRESS IT ANY MORE THAN THIS.
We must be different.
We must love what God loves and hate what God hates.
We cannot let the world dictate to us what is worthy of honor
Because the world clearly honors what is detestable to God.
• The world has its religion.
• The world has its own version of Jesus.
• The world has its own definition of sin.
• The world has its own definition of righteousness.
• The world has its own definition of eternity.
But it is all just darkness.
God has called us to be lights in the midst of darkness,
To be different, to stand against the flow, to expose what is false,
And to spread what is true.
And churches that will are growing fewer and fewer and fewer.
BUT THAT DOESN’T CHANGE THE FACT THIS IS GOD’S DESIRE.
Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
